Weightless
by ester-to-ashes
Summary: It took one sentence from him and she's reeling, back to the days of a miserable one-sided crush and long hours, trapping Tommy and making him listen to her feelings over greasy Chinese food. Felicity thought she was over this. Oliver/Felicity. Highschool!AU.
1. the things he'll never say

**entitled:** Waiting  
**pairing:** Oliver/Felicity  
**summary:** "Sometimes, when you've waited for so long, you forget what you've been waiting for." Highschool!AU.  
**rating:** T  
**disclaimer:** I do not own Arrow.

* * *

i. _things he'll never say_

* * *

"I see the way you look at him."

Tommy stared at her intently, letting his words linger between them as they waited for Oliver and Laurel to climb up the treehouse.

"It's the way I wish you looked at me."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Felicity had pounced on him.

"Oh, _shut up_, Merlyn!" Felicity tried to hide her embarrassment by strangling him. She always had an odd way of expressing herself.

They rolled along the wooden boards till Laurel popped her head up the opening side. When she saw them, Felicity pushed Tommy off her, but it was too late. "I knew it!" Laurel exclaimed, "I knew you guys had a thing!" She finished climbing inside and pulled Oliver in behind her.

"What happened?" Oliver asked, looking from Felicity to Tommy and back. "What's going on?"

Before Felicity could stop Laurel, the older Lance screamed, "Tommy and Felicity are dating! Finally! _God, they only waited till like, senior year_!" Then Laurel was clapping and making kissy-faces at Tommy who grinned and tried to hold Felicity's hand.

Felicity pushed him away and started laughing.

Laurel glanced over at Oliver hoping he would join in on the teasing, but the heir to Queen Consolidated was quiet. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Alright, stop messing around," Oliver said, "And let's get to work on this prank."

* * *

Once they had hashed out the final details, Tommy gave Laurel a ride home. Felicity lingered in the treehouse for a while longer, making use of the remaining sunlight and jotting down extra notes. She was intently working out a budget for supplies. Oliver said he'd wait for her to finish and he could walk her back home.

As she was pressing in numbers on her calculator, Oliver asked casually, "Are you and Tommy together? Like, for real?"

Felicity glanced up. "Are you seriously asking me that?" she questioned, tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "This is _Tommy_ we're talking about. He's not really a one-girl kind-of-guy."

"But he could be," Oliver countered. "He could be if you asked him to be."

"Which I won't be doing, Oliver, because we're not interested in each other. Like _that_, I mean."

Lately, this has been their only conversation. They had stopped mapping out pranks they could pull. They had stopped arguing over the best superheroes and racing to school on their bikes even though Oliver had a sports car and Felicity had a fall-apart pick-up truck. They had stopped talking normally.

These days, it's been short conversations about college and their families. Sometimes Oliver would rant about Laurel and show Felicity the texts Sara was sending him. But mostly, it's been about Tommy and his maybe-feelings for her, and she had to confirm again and again that _nothing_ was going on.

"We're just close, Oliver. We're like siblings."

Felicity finished the last calculation and was ready to get out of there. She started packing up her stuff.

"He would hate it if he heard you say that," Oliver remarked.

"Yeah well, maybe I'll give it a shot," Felicity said.

"What?"

Felicity shrugged. "I mean, the guy is heir to a million-dollar corporation, so maybe I haven't considered that fully, and maybe I should probably date someone because prom is right around the corner and—"

Felicity stopped because Oliver was angry. His fists were clenched and his eyes were narrowed. Perhaps she probably shouldn't have said what she had. It made her sound like she was ready to use Tommy for his money, which was not what she was trying to get at.

Felicity just wanted Oliver and her to be normal again. She felt like he was trying to push Tommy and her together, he and Laurel both, and she was getting tired of it.

"I was only kidding, Oliver," she said in exasperated apology. "If you and Laurel seriously think Tommy and I should be together, I'll give it a shot. We'll go on a date or something. Maybe he'll even let me hack into Merlyn Global Group instead of buying me flowers."

Felicity finished gathering her things and was ready to leave. She preferred it if Oliver doesn't walk her home because there's this heaviness between them that weighs down on her. Felicity can only hope they get it resolved before Tommy and Laurel start to notice.

Oliver made no move to follow her out, so Felicity started her descent down. Just as she's about to dip out of sight, she heard him.

His voice was low, but it was clear.

"I think I like you, Felicity."

And then she was gone because there was a time when she wanted to hear those words, but that time has long passed.

* * *

_tbc._


	2. magic men

**note1:** I've changed the title and summary. It's not for any reason other than for my own satisfaction.  
**note2:** I don't know how I've written this so quickly, but I have. I guess I just wanted to say thank you for your support, and I wanted to post something before Spring Break ends.  
**note3:** You can probably expect a weekly update from me. I'm working towards completing things and so a weekly deadline may help. Updates will be Saturday nights!

* * *

ii. _magic men_

* * *

"He said _what_?"

Felicity really didn't want to repeat herself. She sounded much crazier out loud.

She must have heard wrong because Oliver and Laurel are Starling High's It couple and, she took a deep breath before saying, "I'm just Felicity."

Tommy sat there for a while, not saying a word. He stuffed fried rice and teriyaki chicken in his mouth and stared past her.

"Tommy!" Felicity yelled, snapping him from his stupor. "What am I going to do? How am I going to talk to him tomorrow? How am I going to talk to Laurel who's my lab partner in physics?" Felicity understands that she's at an age where girls tend to be self-involved and dramatic, but she really does feel like the world was going to crash and burn.

This was going to tear Laurel apart.

"Oh god," Felicity said, sitting back against the bed beside Tommy, "Laurel's going to kill me. She's been sending me pictures of prom dresses for weeks and she wants to go shopping soon and she'll never forgive me Tommy!"

"I don't think it would get _that_ far," Tommy said, aiming for it sound comforting, but judging by Felicity's clenched fists and the way she's biting her bottom lip, Tommy missed a mile wide. He realized that for as long as they had been friends, he didn't have to comfort Felicity much at all.

Knowing that he would only push her to tears if he kept trying to say the things that he thought he should be saying, Tommy reached for the fortune cookie and tore off the wrapper. He grabbed Felicity's hand, unclenched her fist, and placed it in her palm. "This fortune cookie is going to solve all your problems," he said, nodding his head to reassure her.

Felicity had to laughed because Tommy looked serious about this, even though they both knew from late nights stuffing their faces with Chinese food that fortune cookies were total crap. Fortunately, they had agreed on the mentality that, "if you believe it, I'll believe it," so Felicity broke the cookie in half and pulled out the slip of paper.

She read it once and was about to crumple it up when Tommy snatched it away with nimble fingers.

He read aloud: "Your Magic Man is closer than you think."

Although she was wholly mortified, Felicity found it in herself to scream, "What the hell is a '_Magic Man_?'"

"The Magic Man is obviously me, Felicity," Tommy teased, grinning wide. "I know for a fact that I'm the only one who's ever taken you to a magic show!" And quite satisfied with himself, Tommy added, "And here I am! Close enough to touch. You can, by the way, touch me Felicity. I'm perfectly okay with that."

Felicity doesn't know how he does it, but Tommy always had a way of lightening the mood. And she realized that behind all his advances, Tommy really cared about her. Not as someone he might have feelings for, but as a close friend.

It made sense because when your father abandons you, you can only find solace in someone who understands the feeling of not mattering enough to someone else.

"Everything will be okay," Tommy said, handing Felicity her untouched carton of greasy noodles, "Even if things get bad, you'll always have me."

Felicity was about to hug him when he added, "Because that's the power of a Magic Man."

"_Get out of my house, Merlyn_!"

* * *

Felicity spent the next two days avoiding Oliver. She begged Tommy to help her fake-sick her way out of going shopping for the pranking supplies. She told Laurel to stay away because she was ill and contagious and she texted Oliver a plain, "Sorry, just leave it at the door," when he tried to bring her soup.

Tommy told her she was getting out of hand, but Felicity told him she was still processing and couldn't be bothered with being sane.

However, Saturday arrived and the Queen's were throwing a party. Felicity wanted to fake-sick her way out of that one too, but Tommy insisted she go because Oliver hated corporate parties and he would need them there to extract him if his mother tried to push him into agreeing to attend a dinner meeting with a company associate.

And because Thea missed her.

"And because," Tommy said, grabbing her hands and leaning in close, "_I challenge you to a cocktail-shrimp eating contest_!"

Even if Felicity could say no to Thea, which was nearly impossible because Thea really did put the royalty in 'Queen,' Felicity couldn't say no to a cocktail-shrimp eating contest. She had won four parties in a row!

So despite all her efforts to avoid Oliver, her she was, standing outside his mansion door.

Which he opened.

"Hey, Ollie!" Tommy chimed. From beneath his tux, Tommy pulled out a bottle of champagne. Then he winked and slipped it back behind the cover of his suit jacket. "For later," he said and pulled Felicity inside.

Tommy had barely touched Felicity's hand when Oliver broke the space between her and Tommy. For a brief second, Tommy's eyes flickered with something malicious. But then he smiled warmly and excused himself to go find Laurel.

"But get ready, Felicity," he said, while bounding up the stairs, "By the end of tonight, one of us is going to _puke_." And then he was gone, leaving Oliver and Felicity standing in front of the open doorway.

"Guess your knight-in-shining-armor's gone," Oliver said, staring up the stairwell.

"Guess so," she replied.

Oliver turned to her then and grabbed her hand. "Let's talk somewhere else."

* * *

They were in the Glades. Oliver had grabbed her hand and took off running. Felicity couldn't help but think of all the girls Oliver had probably done this with. The thrilling run, the heat of his hand, the rush of being with Oliver Queen was suffocating and addicting and overwhelming. Being with Oliver would make any girl feel weightless.

Even Felicity Smoak, who knew all the tricks. Who was supposed to be smarter than this.

"Wait, Oliver," Felicity huffed, breaking from his touch so she could clutch her stomach and force oxygen into her lungs, "Let's stop," deep breath, "for a second."

When Oliver had given her enough time to regroup, they started walking deeper into the Glades.

"Oliver," Felicity breathed, still a bit winded, "you're not even breaking a sweat." Then she added, "You must do this a lot."

"What do you mean?" he asked, walking by her side.

"Like, you must be grabbing girls left and right and just running off to the Glades with them. And, of course, you must do this with Laurel, too."

Oliver lifted his brow. And then he smiled. "It's called _running_, Felicity. And I play football, remember? That requires a lot of _running_."

Felicity shrugged. "Say what you have to, Oliver, but you've made running off with girls a real sport. That, and I don't believe in running. I really hope it's just a fad."

Oliver didn't look convinced. With a single glance down at her feet, Oliver countered, "Then why do you always pair pretty dresses with your worn-out tennis shoes? Which are made for, correct me if I'm wrong, _running_?"

Felicity was about to explain to him the complexities of the cocktail-shrimp eating contest and the need to dodge CEOs and millionaires in the process, when they reached a fall-apart playground fenced off from the cracked roads.

The equipment was rusty and probably dangerous, but since Oliver wanted adventure, Felicity decided that that's exactly what he's going to get.

Before he could stop her, Felicity ran up the stairs that led to the biggest slide. Then she waved for Oliver to come up, before sitting down in the space in front of the winding tunnel. Oliver yelled out that it was dangerous, but followed her anyway.

He sat down beside her and stared forward.

"What happened a few days ago—" Oliver began.

"I think we should just move past it!" Felicity blurted.

"—_I meant what I said_."

Felicity closed her eyes. "We can't do this, Oliver. Laurel—she deserves better than this."

"We broke up," Oliver replied quietly.

Felicity opened her eyes wide and stared at Oliver incredulously. When he didn't return her gaze, she grabbed his face in her hands and made him look at her. "Oliver," she said calmly, "Please tell me, _you didn't_. Please tell me you didn't just make the _biggest mistake of your life_." Felicity thought about adding, "_Again_," because Oliver and Laurel were an on-again, off-again roller-coaster of heated teenager passion, but thought better of it. Everyone knew they would eventually be endgame.

"And here I thought losing you to Tommy would be the biggest mistake of my life," he said, before pulling her into a kiss.

And while Felicity had always wondered if kissing Oliver Queen would result in fireworks, being with him always had a way of making things a little more dangerous.

Felicity swore those gunshots sounded very real.

* * *

_tbc_.


	3. runners

iii. _runners_

* * *

"_Typical_," Felicity hissed.

Outside the tunnel slide there was violent shouting and raining bullets. Inside the tunnel, which was a straight shot down, Oliver had pressed his arms and legs against the sides in such a way that he kept them midway-in, hidden in the eerie yellowness. Felicity laid on top of him, her arms wrapped around his neck, and in spite of the situation, Oliver was partly amused.

The yelling increased outside and Felicity realized it was an argument. _Naturally_, she thought. Leave it to Oliver Queen to get them stuck in the midst of a gang war.

"Felicity," Oliver whispered, "just hold onto me. I can hold us here for a while."

He was right, of course. Oliver had been holding them up for some time now and his body wasn't even shaking. If she wasn't so set on denying the kiss that so totally happened, she would've let her eyes explore the anatomy that was Starling High's star quarterback.

"We'll leave when it's over."

And they might have, if it wasn't for the familiar voice shouting, "Let go of me!" somewhere in the distance.

Felicity knew that voice. It belonged to a punk kid that delivered newspapers in her neighborhood. She didn't see him every day, but when she did, he looked like hell with new cuts and bruises each time. His lip was pretty much busted year-round.

"That's Roy," she whispered. "We have to help him."

"Really, Felicity? Because last time I checked, _we're the ones that need help_!" Oliver hissed sternly.

Felicity looked at Oliver. His jawline was amazing. His lips—well, there was a part of her that wanted to kiss him again and again. Felicity cringed inwardly, disappointed in herself. She thought she had stomped that part out a long time ago. Hope really was an ageless monster.

But she knew herself and she knew Oliver. If she gave in, if she accepted this, then she knew she would be waiting for the day he leaves her. Because that's what Oliver does. He's with you and then he's not and she's seen it a million times. Laurel had always been his anchor, what grounded him, what pulled him back. Felicity neither had the faith nor the courage to be that for him.

"I'm going out there," she said.

"No, you're really not."

"You're going to hate me for this," she whispered.

Oliver didn't understand her till her knee came up and met his groin. Oliver may have been able to grit his teeth against the pain, but he couldn't keep his hands and feet from slipping. Gravity pulled them down.

The moment Felicity felt the touch of natural light, she pushed off and clambered to her feet. The shouting outside is loud, but the people were a good distance away. If she and Oliver had wanted to run, they could probably take off. The chances of gangster-youths running after them were slim. But instead, Felicity was scanning the playground and sighted a red hoodie, the boy wearing it was throwing rapid punches, some of them hit, most of them were a wide miss.

Felicity was about to take off when she felt Oliver beside her, his hand gripping her wrist. She could tell that he was angry and so she doesn't look at him. "Which one is he?" Oliver demanded.

"The one in red," Felicity answered, caught off-guard. He released her wrist and turned her by the shoulders so that they stood face-to-face.

"Felicity," he said, "_run_." He pushed her towards the road and then took off in the other direction, running straight into the chaos.

Felicity was standing there blankly when she realized she had been spotted by a boy holding a gun. She took one glance at Oliver diving into the fighting crowd and throwing Roy over his shoulder before she turned and ran.

She ran not because she was scared, not because she didn't think she could handle herself against a boy with a gun, but because something in her chest told her she could do it. She could trust Oliver.

He was not always someone you could trust with your heart, but he was someone you could trust with your life. Sure, it's a cliché—playboy jackass athlete is actually a fearless, reckless hero—but Felicity believed it.

* * *

By the time they reached the hospital, the sun had sunken into the horizon. Oliver wanted to call Roy's parents, but Felicity begged him not to. She told the nurses that she was his older sister and that she would call their parents, and if they could just take care of the stitches and wrap up his arm, she could pay them upfront.

Roy was in bad shape.

"Who is this kid anyway?" Oliver asked while Felicity was filling out Roy's personal information.

Felicity shrugged, writing fast. "Just a kid who delivers newspapers in my neighborhood."

"_What_?"

"He's just a kid who needs some help, Oliver."

Oliver looked down at the pen gliding across the page. "How do you know his personal information?"

Felicity glanced up after signing the bottom line. She tried to avoid his gaze as she mumbled, "This isn't the first time I've done this."

Oliver sighed and took the clipboard. "Must be some kid," he said, standing up. "Wait here, I'll pay the bill."

"Oliver, no," Felicity protested, rising from her seat, "You don't have to do that." She made a grab for the clipboard, but Oliver raised it high above his head, his arm stretched to the ceiling, the papers completely out-of-reach.

"You won't be able to pay for this on your own, Felicity," he said gently. "_Let me help you_."

Felicity wished that Oliver could be a little more cold. She wished Oliver could be mean and mock her for trying to save a boy from a dark future. But he was a roller-coaster of blowing money on booze and doing a 180 to pay for a kid's medical bill.

He was wearing her down, confusing her, she didn't know what to do. Laurel and Tommy are still at Oliver's, she has five missed calls, her head was spinning, god, they could've _died_ back there, yeah, nice going Felicity. She couldn't believe she kicked Oliver in the groin.

* * *

After putting down a few hundred for a kid who clearly sucked at fighting, Oliver walked back to the waiting room and Felicity was gone. He asked the patients if they had seen her, maybe a nurse had taken her to see Roy, but no one had. While waiting for her to come back, he checked his phone and there were seven missed calls, two voicemails, and one text message.

He opened the text message.

_Sorry, Oliver. Everything is out-of-control. _

_I think we should spend some time apart._

* * *

_tbc_.


End file.
